Canticle Blue

22. Flight

Music - San Jacinto by Peter Gabriel

When the crews working in the south crater uncovered its floor, they found, not only a system of cut grooves for drainage but five anchor rings embedded in rock. It took them nearly two days to reach that level, sometimes working by light from the upper tunnel alone. During that time Shei Pendel studied the Lillith with Tor, testing its systems and practicing procedures. Among several new items they found beneath floor panels were chocks to cushion the ship, an access door to a mooring-line winch, and five additional R-type panels, apparently intended to assist with leveling.

On the night before the ship was to be moved, Shei briefed the whole team. "I think it's safe to say that the ship was probably never taken outside the way we plan to try. It's liable to be a clumsy affair and require a lot of patience. Our goal will be to keep it weightless, even when we disconnect it from its pallet, and to keep it from touching anything on the way out. For safety reasons, I'm going to have to ride inside it." She smiled. "It's going to be like a cocoon, but I'll still have the canopy windows. We should have enough light from globes in the tunnel."

The next morning, they towed the ship and its pallet to the edge of the Great-Room pool to draw water for ballast. As soon as it floated freely with Shei aboard, she used the center drive-unit and check-valves to deflate the ballonets. When they were empty, Syl, Geddes and Os refolded them and covered the ship with tarps. Then, with some apprehension, they released the Lillith from its pallet and moved it slowly to the sea tunnel.

As they walked, Geddes talked with Shei by radio. "So, how are you going to work this when we get outside?"

She answered, "As soon as we're on the beach, you and Os will attach mooring lines to the bow and stern and hold them while someone removes the tarps. After that, I'll start refilling with air. Then I'll drain ballast water until Tor can come aboard. If everything looks good, and the Lillith is level, we want to practice flying slowly over the beach at low altitude. Once I get a feel for the controls and handling, I'll take the ship up to the ridge. We will need to get some idea of how much power the center drive has for maneuvering in the wind."

It took over an hour to get the Lillith to the beach and prepare it for flight. When Tor was finally able to climb inside, the ship became slightly heavy in the nose. Before he could act to re-balance it, it leveled itself.

Everyone outside the Lillith now had a good view of it, either from the beach or the ridge above. When the mooring lines were released, Geddes stepped back and said, "It's your call from here, Shei. I wish you could see the ship from out here. There's just no way to describe it. Os is trying to get something on the imager, but he says it's having trouble with the light. If the sun comes out, we're going to need sunglasses just to keep track of you."

Shei laughed and replied, "We've got great visibility in here. It looks like you guys are clear of the ship, so we're going to try moving."

She started the center engine first, and the ship accelerated quietly and smoothly, moving southward and following the shoreline. The Lillith had a very natural feel in turns and easily returned to level coming out of them. After a few passes up and down the beach, Shei stopped the center engine and called Geddes. "I want to try the other drives, just to make sure they work properly. But I think the center engine is all we'll need today. Because I have no idea how responsive the ship is going to be, I'm going to increase our altitude and head out to sea."

Geddes responded, "Understood, Shei, but try not to go out too far. We have no way to get to you if something goes wrong."

She then directed the center-drive thrust downward, and the ship began to ascend. When it reached a hundred feet, she keyed the radio again. "Okay; I'm just waiting for Tor to hold on to something. Here goes."

She brought up the main drives gradually, but the ship's acceleration still pushed them back in their seats. Before they knew it, they were nearly a half mile from shore, and bearing down on an iceberg. She quickly throttled back, and the Lillith glided to a stop in a patch of sunlight, slowly turning and then drifting back toward shore in a light sea breeze. She used her radio again. "Geddes, tell Syl the Lillith is no 'great grandma'. She can move. I'm going to bring her back to the beach now. If one of you would bring us the mooring line for our winch, Tor will attach it. Then, I think we'll be ready to fly up to the top."

Once the winch line was in place, the Lillith climbed straight upward, seemingly without effort, for several hundred feet and headed for the south crater with all three lines trailing. Within just few minutes, She had flown past the crater, made a sweeping turn over the caldera lake, and was closing on it again. As the ship drew near, she called Elyse in the crater.

"Elyse, we are coming in from of the east. We see Havilan waving from above the crater. Tell him this will be our final approach and to stand clear as much as possible. Tor is going to be putting our winch in free-spool when we pass over you. The hook on the end of the line is pretty heavy and we're not sure how fast it's going to drop."

She responded, "We'll watch out for it, Shei. Cian will be trying to grab the center anchorage for you."

Shei gave the radio to Tor and moved the ship slowly forward against the light wind. He spoke to Elyse, "Let us know when the hook is secure, so I can lock the winch and bring the ship in."

The winch-line hook dropped so fast that even Tor and Shei heard it hit the crater floor. Cian pounced on it almost as soon as it hit and made a quick connection to the anchor ring.

Elyse called again, "The hook is secure, Tor, and Havilan has the bow line. He will be handing it off to Cian so she can turn the ship when you're ready. Then he's going to take the stern line and slide down the wall into the crater...or so he says."

"Understood, Elyse. I'll hold off on the winch until we get turned."

Once properly oriented, Tor drew the Lillith into her ancient berth facing south. When the ship was in place, Shei opened the rear door and said, "You guys will have to tighten the port and stern lines too. Once we step off the ship, it might want to turn."

As they did so, Elyse attached chocks to the sides to prevent impacts. The Lillith's berth was a neat fit at the top of the crater but still left room for access around the perimeter of the ship. The purpose of the N-type coating on the crater surface now became evident. If the ship were exposed to high winds the chance of damage would be minimal.

As Shei left the Lillith, she was a picture of joy. Before heading back into the city she turned to the mooring crew and said, "Thank you, guys, for one of the best days of my life! I'm going to list my job description in the logbook as 'having fun.'"